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Extraditing Dutch man for Amanda Todd case could take years: expert

Inspector Paulette Freill announced Thursday that a 35-year-old Dutch man has been charged in connection to the 2012 death of 15-year-old Amanda Todd. Amanda’s parents Carol and Norman Todd attended the announcement.

Photograph by: Ric Ernst
, PNG

A Dutch man at the centre of a multi-jurisdictional cyberbullying and extortion case tied to the 2012 suicide of B.C. teen Amanda Todd could be tried in any of the countries where the attacks occurred, including Canada, a Vancouver immigration lawyer says.

Zool Suleman said he suspects the countries involved in the investigation — which include the Netherlands, where the man was arrested and charged, as well as the U.K. and the United States — may have already come up with a plan for who gets him first.

Canada could be a strong contender because of the high-profile nature of the case involving 15-year-old Amanda, Suleman said, but noted any extradition attempts could drag on for years.

The situation is also muddied by the fact there are victims in other countries, and the suspect could accuse the government of “prosecution shopping” and argue that he wants to be tried in his home country.

“The problem with Internet-based crimes is that the location becomes convoluted,” Suleman said. “While the perpetrator is in country A, the crimes were perpetrated in country B and C and D. The weapon is the Internet. It becomes quite complicated.”

RCMP confirmed Thursday they have laid pornography, extortion and Internet luring charges against the suspect, identified as 35-year-old Aydin Coban, in connection with Amanda’s suicide in 2012.

The National Public Prosecutor’s Office in the Netherlands says there could be several dozen victims in multiple countries.The man, who is suspected of inciting children and young people to commit sexual acts over webcams, was arrested after authorities in the Netherlands were tipped off by a U.S. Internet service provider.

Both Coquitlam RCMP and the U.K. National Crime Agency took credit for helping to provide the evidence needed to arrest him.

The man, who was arrested in January, made his first court appearance in an Amsterdam court Wednesday, charged with multiple offences linked to luring young girls to expose themselves online and then blackmailing them later.

“This has been an extremely complex investigation with NCA officers, including our in-house specialist child protection advisers, viewing online material and speaking to both children and adult victims, to obtain evidence to help our Dutch colleagues apprehend this individual,” Andy Baker, Deputy Director of the National Crime Agency’s CEOP command said in a statement. “The individual in this case used some of the most advanced techniques available to target his victims and in an attempt to hide himself, but his arrest demonstrates that the NCA will use technology, expertise and international cooperation to ensure that criminals who target British children have no place to hide.”

B.C.’s Criminal Justice Branch said it will ask the federal Department of Justice to ask that the man be extradited to Canada, but Suleman said he expects it will be a few weeks before any details emerge regarding where the man will be tried.

But even if he is tried in the Netherlands, Suleman said, the suspect could conceivably be sent to Canada after he serves his sentence to be tried on new charges under Canadian law.

He noted many governments tend to want to work together and don’t generally oppose extradition requests, especially if the two judicial systems are similar.

Canada, for instance, wouldn’t extradite a suspect to a country with the death penalty.

Former Maple Ridge resident and convicted child sex tourist Christopher Neil, was extradited to B.C. after spending four years in a Thai jail for sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy and his nine-year-old brother, and distributing child pornography.

Neil, who once worked in B.C. as a teacher, was arrested in 2007 after a global manhunt that was prompted after digitally altered “swirly-faced” photos of himself sexually assaulting children were posted to Internet sites.

He was convicted in Thailand in 2007 and sentenced in 2008. At the time of his trial, Thai officials indicated he could be extradited once his sentence was complete.

Although Neil had no criminal record in Canada, the RCMP said his actions in other countries were such that police felt it important to have him appear in front of a court to address public safety concerns.

He has not had to face charges in Cambodia.

Accused murderer Luka Rocco Magnotta, for instance, was extradited from Europe to Canada to be tried for the May 2012 murder and dismemberment of Concordia University student Jun Lin. Magnotta had left Canada after the alleged murder and went to France and then Germany, where he was arrested in June 2012 and extradited to Canada to be tried for the crimes.

In another case, former Scout leader John Wrenshall, 64, was sentenced in January 2011 to 25 years in a U.S. prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to engage in sex tourism, conspiracy to produce child pornography and distribution of child pornography.

Interpol traced child pornography images to Wrenshall’s brothel in Bangkok, where he had bought children as young as four and “trained” them to service foreigners.

Wrenshall fled Thailand and was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport en route to Canada. Britain agreed to the United States’ request for extradition.

Inspector Paulette Freill announced Thursday that a 35-year-old Dutch man has been charged in connection to the 2012 death of 15-year-old Amanda Todd. Amanda’s parents Carol and Norman Todd attended the announcement.

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